500 sanitary towels donated

Locally-based musician Tumelo Nyalungu, famously known as Tumzar Van Kotsi, along with SEZ Foundation donated an estimated 500 sanitary towels to five schools, namely; ES Malele Secondary, Matlolane Higher Primary, Twalakule and Nkwenkwezi Primary Schools as well as Lehlasedi High School on Wednesday, October 10th.

The main purpose of the donation, according to Tumzar, was to keep a girl child at school. He also said; “I am grateful to everyone who contributed towards this great initiative. It all started as a just an idea, and today I’m very happy it has become a success.”

The initiative started towards the end of August as Tumelo was spotted at local shopping centres and traffic lights pledging for local people’s support through donations. It was then followed by a music show on the 8th of September at the Dwarsloop Tennis Court, where the entrance fee was R20.00 or two packs of pads.

“As Life Skills educators, we were very excited when we heard the good news. It is a relief, especially for female educators because this is a challenge we’re faced with on a daily basis, and sometimes our children miss important schoolwork because of lack of sanitary towels. We have learners from child-headed families, and most of the time they miss school during their menstrual periods, so this is a huge relief for us. We really look forward to more of these initiatives,” Life Skills teacher, Mashego C said.

Sezanele Zondi, the founder of SEZ Foundation said; “We registered our organisation in 2015 after we realised a need for sanitary towels to young girls. As an organisation, we visit different schools to teach them about the consequences of teenage pregnancy and other issues. Today we visited five schools in Bushbuckridge after Tumelo approached us with an idea to give back to his community. We are excited and grateful for the opportunity.”

One of the learners who came up with the initiative, Lungile Madalane (16) who’s also a grade 11 learner at Lehlasedi told Bushbuckridge News, “I approached Tumzar with this idea because I knew he would come through for us, he really did, and I appreciate his efforts. I started this initiative because I realised that many learners cannot afford to buy these sanitary towels and how it affected their schoolwork, this will save a girl’s child’s dignity, as well as to save them the trouble of having to hustle for money to buy sanitary towels.” She concluded.

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In June this year, a new platform for community media will be launched in Mpumalanga - called The New Era. This first of its kind news portal, brings together eight community newspapers in Mpumalanga.